TT Poole meet 8/9/2009

Notes from Transition Town Poole meeting 8 Sept 2009

The meeting was held at the Grasshopper pub Bournemouth Road hosted by Rachel, Sue & Ian

We began with updates from the previous meeting at Branksome;

Helen volunteered to investigate the possibility of including food at the film evenings
Brendon will co-ordinate Food week
350 campaign is being organised by a number of different groups including Transition BH
Ian & Sue reported ongoing development of community group following the Big Lunch

Approx 20 people were at the meeting so we split into three groups for discussion;

– Food
– Publicity
– Craft

*Food Group *(notes by Gary)

Land/garden share – lots of interest with some concerns over risk possibilities – Action – Gary to research existing schemes, Helen to do the leg work, ie sound people out

Food from small spaces – discussion around sustainability of this with differing veiws as to how much land is sufficient for self sufficiency- recommended Michael Guerras “The Edible Container Garden” (available in
libraris)

Mushrooms – difficult to save spores for continuous growing

Fruit, especially soft fruit – the easiest and most rewarding for new growers

Local & Seasonal – a challenge whilst easilly available in supermarkets – also challenging to get extended seasons

Produce share vs landshare – comment on the amount of wasted/windfall fruit and how we could tap into this

Overall what is coming out is the need for skill sharing amongst the group. Aim to hook with Jamie to get some dates organised for the Autumn

Group felt advice on small scale fruit and veg growing would be the best way to encourage Poole people to start growing their own. I’ve posted a link to a new Transition guide on this very subject.

*Publicity * (notes by Andy)

This included a plan forming for a Little Green Weekend event on the green at Ashley Cross. Rachel and Sue are keen to get volunteers to help with organising it.

We also discussed how to keep in touch with people who dont do email, buddying seemed the best option, that someone undertakes to phone or otherwise contact them, especially around meeting dates.

As part of the communications group, we decided we do need to focus more on building and supporting projects in Poole, so we will set up a website, and re-activate the Poole Transition Google Group, which we started and then paused rather than confuse people.

So if you have an interest in being part of the Poole Google Group (don’t have to live in Poole), then please feel free to go to http://groups.google.com/group/transition-poole?hl=en and opt to join. I will try and send an email to invite those people who I know live in Poole, but don’t be bashful.

Now that there are groups in Christchurch, Bournemouth and Wimborne, we feel we want to get some practical stuff going on in Poole. Please don’t feel excluded. TransitionBH will continue to be a means to keep in touch and exchange ideas and mutual support, and hopefully green drinks will supplement more formal meetings as an opportunity to exchange ideas across the conurbation.

*Craft*

We discussed how many people are becoming interested in craft as a way of saving money & spending time productively. We felt this would be a good way of bringing people into transition; inviting others to join us and chatting informally.

Jacki has expressed an interest in forming a Mors Pod leading up to Christmas. Sue would like to form a knitting group. People in the Poole group already have skills in sewing, knitting, felting, patchwork, jewellery
etc.

We thought small informal groups could start meeting together and working on particular crafts, with the aim of joining together, having open meetings 2 or 3 times a year and sharing skills.

We plan to start with two groups; Mors Pod and Knitting group.

The next meeting will be *Monday 5 October 7.30 – 9.30pm at the Grasshopper Pub *hosted by Mark and Brendon.

From: “Brendan Picknell”
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0100

Hi,

Tat and I are co-ordinating the Lighthouse stall event on the 25th October
for anyone that has ideas or would like to help with this. Can someone
confirm what food week is because I am not sure what this involves and might
not have time for it? I didn’t realise I had volunteered, perhaps the
background noise has led to a slight misunderstanding, please confirm.

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